Change Orders

Our little piece of the world is experiencing a little bit of a building boom. Which means any and every yahoo now has a general contractors license and is trying to build homes. After almost 20 years in business our little outfit has a select group of builders that we work with that know how to manage a job. We are very grateful for these builders and our profitable relationship over the years.

Recently a builder asked us to do a job that was out of town, 3 hours one way out of town, we took the job as a favor to the builder. Oh Yeah we also thought it might give us a project to work on during the slow time of the year (BTW… what is normally the slow time of the year is now jam packed with jobs – Good news for us not for our schedule – - but I digress). Out of town jobs require careful planning to maintain profitability, especially jobs that are in rural areas where the closest thing to a supply house is an IFA. Fuel costs being what they are we loaded up a small crew in one pickup with all of the hardware and some traditional ‘change-order’ hardware.

We finished pulling the house and were wrapping up the make-up when the homeowner decided to add an ice cream machine to the kitchen island. Initially I thought the machine would require a dedicate 20 Amp circuit, nothing the contingency hardware couldn’t handle. How wrong was I, this commercial behemoth requires a 2 pole 30 Amp, the equivelant to an electric dryer. I guess it makes sense that a couple of retired Urban farmers would miss their McDonald’s Soft-Serve icecream but how were supposed to know. We had prepared for some smaller changes but, this through us for a loop. Further complicating matters and hindering that overall experience it was 1 degree Fahrenheit on the job-site, just to clarify – that is 31 degrees below freezing.

Long story, short… We were able to pull it off by changing some layouts and re-pulling a couple of other items but, how do you prepare for the ice-cream machine change order that can freeze over hell. You don’t! It will always happen but, you can educate your builders so that next time it happens they understand why they have a $1,000 change order for an ice cream machine. We took the opportunity to strengthen our realtionship with our builder and explained that if the had added a welder we would have to drive 6 hours round trip to install the one circuit. Our builders are great and want all of their subs to make money on every job. That is why we keep coming back to them.

Curious though…What kind of change-orders you have seen and how your builders react to them, let me know.

Trade School

I am sort of a 4th year apprentice, I have worked electrical off and on for the last 10 years while I finished up my Bachelors of Science at the local University. As my carer fluctuates I am in and out of my fathers electrical outfit, I am am back in and have decided to begin trade school. Electrical has been very good to me and my family, my father is a Master, my brother a Journeyman, and me well…getting there.

I just enrolled for the first year and the first semester of the apprenticeship program, I hope to continue pursuing my MBA schooling while pursuing trade school. Someday my brother and I will rival Tesla in electrical capabilities but, for the moment I am fine letting people know that Lowes has a better lighting selection than most lighting stores in town and is a lot cheaper.

After talking with a friend I have come to the conclusion that people misplace the value of educational sources. My Friends wife made a remark that indicated that there was no future in trade school. I countered with ‘there is no future in medical school either if that is your logic.’ A journeyman electrician has gone to school for four years. During those four years of school he has had to stay employed by an electrical contractor in order to go to school (electrician’s have to maintain sponsorship while enrolled in school). Why is it not a requirement that portfolio managers, bankers, insurance agents, or anybody who deals in the equities world required to maintain sponsorship while they get their MBA? I submit, from personal experience that the demands and rigors that are required to complete a Journeymen electrical licensing program rival a majority of bachelor’s degree. How pathetic are we as a society when we think that the every tradesman is on the level of a cable TV installer.

Next time a mortgage broker asks you to lower your bid so that you are more competitive with what he thinks you should make. Take a minute and remind him that the average residential electrical outfit has one Master Electrician, One Journeyman, and a handful of Apprentices. Compare the cumulative years of schooling of his office staff against the electrical outfit and I think you will be surprised which group of individuals has spent more time studying their business.

Enough of my soapbox rhetoric, I hope that we are able to create material that not only dehumanizes the lighting retail industry but can serve as some sort of a resource to the Electricians. That said, EALC (Electricians Against Lighting Companies) just received a Milwaukee Lithium 18v combo kit I am working on putting together a review and comparison also including the Milwaukee NiCad 18 and the Dewalt NiCad 18. More information coming soon.